Dear all, Apologies for lack of postcards lately but the internet here is painfully slow and to be honest I simply haven't had time! Life has suddenly taken a very mad turn - and it's all a bit hectic to say the least. We started our teacher training yesterday (not sure what day that was but hey!) and it's all come as a bit of a shock. No longer can I party til dawn, get up at midday and tax my brain with nothing more than deciding whether to have rice or noodles for lunch! OH NO!! The school is amazing. I don't know what I expected but it's a whole world away from schools in England. The kids are so poor, they all wear uniforms but they take their shoes off to go into the classrooms and their socks are full of holes. One little one I saw had no soles to his socks at all - he just had the bit of elastic round his ankles so that when he put his shoes on it looked like he did actually have socks on. Everywhere is so dirty too - (but don't get me started on the toilets - all I will say is that I shall have very toned thighs by the time I get back from all the squatting!) Anyway! The roads are no more than dirt tracks and the dust gets everywhere - up your nose and all over your clothes. I don't think I've felt clean since I've been here - even when I've just got out of the shower. It's horrid to wear proper clothes too - I wish I could teach in my bikini! The 50p Primark skirts are just the job though - ha ha! The kids are beautiful though - and seem obsessed with the fact that some of us have blonde hair! They all have dodgy military haircuts - and the girls have weird bowl cuts - I think you would have a field day here Mum! It makes them really difficult to tell apart - although there is still a podgy one, a specky one etc etc!! The classrooms are basic shells - with metal desks and tiny chairs - there's nothing on the walls at all. COmpared to a primary school class room in the UK it couldn't be more different. The main difference between the school here and those at home is that here it is far more relaxed. The teachers think nothing of the pupils just getting bored and going for a walk (sometimes they're gone for hours!) and there's always a manky dog or two roaming around the classroom! I knew I should have had that rabies jab - damn it! The school canteen is outside - with a tin roof covering it. The dinner ladies somehow manage to cook dinner for over 300 staff and pupils with seemingly no kitchen at all! I don't know how they do it but the food they eventually serve up (nothing happens in a hurry here!) is actually pretty good. The training is exactly what I did on my TEFL course back in the UK - although we have 5 days so it will be in more detail. I did my first teaching practice this morning - scary mary! We have lessons every morning and then teach in the afternoon - until Sunday lunch time when we finish our training and have a big barbie on the beach - can't wait! It's all come as a bit of shock having to use my brain again after a week of lazing around doing exactly what I wanted to do! We've also had to decide who we want to teach with and where on the island we would prefer to go. I haven't even really had to think about who I wanted to stay with - Cath wins hands down! The others are either 18 and really annoying (for most of them it's their first time away from home and they are driving me insane!) or they are old hippies who do yoga on the beach every morning and talk about how when they meditated they saw Buddha in a golden aura.....!!! Tough choice huh?? I think that we eventually teach on our own but we start in pairs so we don't get too scared! Not sure where we'll end up at the moment though. Where we are now we are right in between the two main towns - which suits us really well. Will let you know where I end up - hopefully a little beach bungalow that I can decorate with paper lanterns...aaaah! Tonight we are off to a herbal spa in a Buddhist temple - not sure what that will be like but I will try hard not to be sick in the sauna - long story - but there's a time and a place! Hee hee! We went to a party in the jungle the other night - perhaps not the most sensible thing to do the night before we started our training - but hey - you only live once! It was sooo cool - it was like a great big treehouse that was covered in neon spider webs etc - all a bit spangly really! We had to walk an hour to get there but luckily got lifts back with some aussies with mopeds - sorry Mum! Am hoping to be able to put some piccies on this site soon - if I can work out how to do it! Best be off now - got a lesson plan to do and need to find somewhere that sells Lemsip - we've all got colds and are feeling pretty rotten. Ah well - a small price to pay for being here in this heat I guess! I have got a postal address now - so if anyone would like to post me anything (money, marmite, wet wipes all gratefully received!) then feel free! You should address it to me at the following address: 64/2 Moo 2 Tambon Ban Tai Koh Phangan Suratthani 84280. I love getting post - hint hint!! Right - really am going this time - love to you all! Vicky xxx